Глава VI. Душевные свойства старца Макария, приобретенные при помощи Божией его трудами и подвигами, и духовные благодатные дарования, скоро доставившие ему большую известность среди людей благомыслящих

After the death of the elder Fr. Leonidas, the main elder in Optina Pustyn became the head of the monastery and fraternal confessor, Hieromonk Macarius, heir to all the virtues and spiritual gifts of his predecessor. Faith, according to the Apostle James, is manifested by works (chapter 2), right, living and unshakable faith in the Lord God and His all-good providence for all people in general and, in particular, for each person, was inherent in the elder throughout his life. This has already been partly discussed before and will be discussed further. Rightly meaning the dogmas of our Orthodox faith, depicted in the Creed, as well as the Gospel commandments, promises and prohibitions, the Rules of St. apostles, decrees of St. Ecumenical Councils, great church teachers and saints with their interpretations, as well as the teachings and instructions of our reverend and God-bearing fathers, Fr. Macarius strongly defended them and intelligibly explained the truths of faith and salvation, teaching everyone who related to him spiritually to observe all this. United with such faith is a firm hope in the ineffable mercy of God and complete devotion to St. the will of the most good Lord relentlessly accompanied him in all the joyful and sorrowful circumstances of his life. Of the other God-loving qualities of the soul of Elder Macarius, his deep humility was especially outstanding. And truly he himself could be called humility incarnate. This God-loving trait of his character is visible in all his numerous handwritten letters. For everywhere in them he in the full sense considers himself to be nothing. For example, he wrote to one person: “You entrust the responsibility (of spiritual guidance) to me. But no matter how laudable your desire is, it is so difficult on my part to fulfill it. Having no ability for such work and not seeing spiritual fruits in myself, what can I teach others? This very often exposes me and, contained within the boundaries of my unreason, makes me see my insignificance. The words of our Savior: to the doctor, heal yourself (Luke 4:23) and if a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit (Matthew 15:14) - they frighten me a lot. My habit of entering into unnecessary conversations and judgments, perhaps often incorrect, but not understood by many, gives reason to think about me what I do not have, and to seek spiritual benefit through me. Even if I have to deny this; but, being so weak in my character, I cannot refuse and, with a feeling of my unreasonableness, I enter into their position, I offer from the word of God and from the teachings of the holy fathers; and when someone receives spiritual benefit, this happens through the action of God’s grace, not according to my dignity, but according to their faith, bestowed upon them. I wrote this to you, although to show my insignificance, however - in a completely small form - and the reason why some people think something about me, and so that you know that I cannot do anything on my own. Your verbal and written request convinces me to look not for my own people, but for my neighbor; and, forgetting my thinness, due to the weakness of my character, I do not dare refuse you your request. I do not rely on my own reason, but on God, who admonishes the dumb, for the benefit of His rational creation, and His blood-bought Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, according to your faith, through the prayers of my spiritual father, is able to enlighten the blind, to show the path or to warn those who find themselves along the way. I just ask you to add your prayers to your assistance in this high and important undertaking. Due to the poverty of my mind, do not seek eloquence; and if I write or say anything, not from my deeds and not from my mind, but from Scripture and the teachings of the holy fathers, what the Lord will give to my darkened mind for your benefit, offering, according to the word of St. John Climacus: “That some, having walked the path and fallen into mud themselves, warn others so that they are afraid and do not become dirty with the same mud and dirt; that through this deliverance they too may receive forgiveness of their sins” (Degree 26, chapter 14) 20 . Or in a letter to another person, the elder expresses himself even more forcefully: “Woe is me, poor man! I talk about people, but I myself will fall among all the evil ones; and is not a stranger to pride. I accept satisfaction from blind people like myself for my condemnation. And if you could open your eyes and see at least some of my evil deeds; then you wouldn’t want to look at such a monster. And I should have kept quiet and listened to myself. But I don’t know whether my custom is crafty or vain, under the guise of supposedly benefiting my neighbors, it does not allow me to remain silent. I leave concern for my soul and reach out to others; and I only know that I am writing, although this is very difficult for me. I don’t know what will happen” 21. And in general, in all his letters, Elder Macarius exposes his supposed badness and ignorance, attributing all his good deeds, as befits, solely to the power and glory of God. His humility was also expressed in words and deeds, as well as in his entire appearance: appearance, clothing and in every movement. It was the alpha and omega of his entire teaching. You can often find in his letters the words he quotes from Rev. Isaac the Syrian about the great importance of the virtue of humility. “Humility,” he says, “even without action forgives many sins; how, on the contrary, all our deeds and all virtues without humility are vain - they will not save us” 22. Protecting one of his spiritual daughters from arrogance, the elder wrote to her: “You write: it seems to you that you are humble and patient. What is our humility? – wolf; and patience is rotten.” Elder Macarius, in his humility, was not ashamed to express before people his seemingly cowardice and fear of demonic power. He was once, as often happened, with the elder Fr. Leonida, when the latter was still alive. So they brought a certain demon-possessed woman to both of them. Fr. boldly and sternly approached her. Leonid. The demoniac immediately began to scream furiously. And the elder Fr. Macarius, as if out of fear, showing an appearance of timidity and hiding behind Fr. Leonida, said: “I’m afraid, I’m afraid!..” The possessed woman, or, more accurately, the demon in the woman, hearing this, shouts: “You’re lying, you’re lying! Don't be afraid! You won’t deceive me!” According to St. Isaac the Syrian, “there is no one who is humble, but one who is peaceful: but one who is not peaceful is lower than one who is humble” 23. Therefore, the humble elder Macarius was always at peace with everyone and never grieved for anyone, even if he suffered something from someone. With what, for example, humble disposition of heart did he accept the news that someone spoke ill of him! “Thank God,” he used to say to his disciples, “he alone understood correctly about me. It was God who told him about me. You are seduced, considering me to be something. Don’t you remember what was said: Woe, when all men speak well of you? [Luke 6:26] And woe to him whose glory is greater than his works! And these are spiritual brushes that erase our spiritual impurity.” Or so he wrote in a letter to his Sevsk relatives: “We must also regret M.R. And she is also in asceticism: having not conquered her passions, she feels cold and sees herself offended. And in this I praise her, thank her and give honor that she, who was blind and enchanted, received her sight and saw me in the form that I am - a sinner. She turned the praise that she brought me into reproach and thus, although a little, lightened my burden, which I am burdened by, accepting false glory and having a name above my deeds” 24. In a word, as one who had succeeded in the virtue of humility, he not only did not grieve, but even more rejoiced when he heard slander, reproach and reproaches, and, according to the Savior’s commandment, he prayed for such. Condemnation of someone ran away like snake venom. This deep humility of Elder Macarius, as the root and foundation of all good, led to him the entire luminous council of the gospel virtues. The love of the elder, with which he loved with all his soul more than all his Lord and his neighbor as himself, was truly fiery and active. It contained within itself those properties of true love that St. Apostle Paul: He is patient with love, he is merciful, he does not envy love, he is not arrogant in love, he is not proud, he does not act outrageously, he does not seek his own, he is not irritated, he does not think evil, he does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but he rejoices in the truth: he loves everything, he has faith in everything, he trusts everything, he endures everything. Love no longer exists (1 Cor. 13:4–8). Filled with such love, the elder shed his mercy abundantly, first of all, on all his spiritual children, embracing them with his soul and gently containing them in his heart. Following the example of our most merciful Savior and Redeemer, he did not turn away from anyone who came to him and asked for spiritual or physical alms, and did not let anyone go from him without paying as much attention to his need as possible. With what fatherly love, for example, at one time he accepted into the monastery and calmed down until his death one brother, who for some time, at the instigation of the enemy, slandered him and annoyed him! It also happened that another brother in the monastery was infirm in some way, but by his appearance one could not consider him sick. The other brethren usually said to the elder: “How sick is he? He pretends, doesn’t want to work, and nothing more.” But the loving old man in such cases answered: “Well, I can’t help but believe” 25. Thus, love has faith in everything. [Cor.13:7] Optina old-timer Fr. told about himself. Abbot Mark 26: “Soon after I arrived in Optina, I fell ill with a fever. My illness lasted about two years. At that time there was no hospital in the monastery, and the sick from the brethren lay in their cells. Then I was fully convinced of what great, truly fatherly love the heart of the old father, Fr. Macarius in relation to the brethren of the skete and monastery, and especially the sick. Despite the fact that many visitors of different sexes and classes came to him every day, he always found time to go around all the sick brothers and caress each of them, reassure and console them.” The same, let us add to this, Fr. Abbot Mark said that, being already a hierodeacon, he began to be embarrassed by thoughts of leaving Optina Pustyn; but at the same time, knowing the holiness of Elder Macarius, he was afraid of losing his prayerful intercession before God and spiritual nourishment. And then one day he explained this to the elder. He replied: “If you remain in this place and remain here until death, I will intercede for you before God; and if you go out somewhere, see for yourself!” So oh. Mark stayed in Optina. Another story about. Abbot Mark about how Elder Macarius was lenient towards the weak and fallen: “He lived during the time of his eldership, Fr. Macarius in Optina hieromonk Melchizedek 27. In general, he was very serviceable, but sometimes he was subject to the passion of drinking wine. Despite this, the elder supported him fatherly and covered him with his love. It even happened once that while drinking, Fr. Melchizedek fell into an offense inappropriate for the monastic rank, which could serve as a reason for the elder’s irritation. But instead of threats and denunciations, the elder himself brought him tea and sugar, encouraged him, calmed him down and, having spiritually restored him, thus did not allow him to fall into despondency and despair. Father Melchizedek personally told me about this with tears.” Elder Macarius, although in his humility did not like to express his good qualities to others, but to his clerk, Fr. Andrei Glushkov, 28, sometimes heard the following words from his lips: “I love everyone: I love birds, and I love cows, and I love horses.” Having once received a complaint from the monastery steward that the brother he had sent for some business had greatly tired the horses with rapid riding, the elder gave a severe reprimand to the culprit, declaring all the impropriety for a monk to satisfy his personal whim or, out of vanity, to treat dumb animals with cruelty, contrary to Holy Scripture, which calls blessed those who have mercy on animals. In general, like his former elder of the Ploshchansk Hermitage, Schemamonk Athanasius, and Fr. Macarius showed great compassion for every dumb creature. So, in the winter, regretting the birds left without food, the elder, as was his custom, ordered his cell attendants to sprinkle hemp seeds for them every day on a shelf of hemp seeds attached to the outside of the window of his cell. And a fair number of titmice, linnets and small gray woodpeckers flocked to take advantage of the elder’s beneficence. Noticing that large birds, jays, began to offend small defenseless birds, at once eating what they would have had for the whole day, the old man, writing the necessary letters, himself from time to time got up from his chair to knock on the window to drive away the predators. But seeing that this did not help, he already ordered the grains to be poured into a jar, from which small birds could easily get them by flying into it; it became inconvenient for the jays to offend them. The same elder Glushkov, the elder’s scribe mentioned here, said: “Once seeing that the elder was especially in good spirits, I turned to him with the following words: “Father! How happy I would be if the Lord led me to be, after death, even in the last corner, only in the place where you will be.” Lowering his hands and turning to face me, the elder looked at me rather seriously through his glasses and finally said: “Oh! Would you like it? Fine!" It is remarkable that the dying illness of Fr. Anthony (former Father Andrei Glushkov) was similar, although perhaps somewhat, to the dying illness of Elder Macarius. So, it seems, according to the law of God’s truth, in order to enjoy in eternal life the benefits that were at least partly the same as the elder Macarius, Fr. Anthony, at least to some extent, suffered the same illness as him. Let us continue our conversation about the spiritual properties of Elder Macarius. He was meek and long-suffering. He was never embarrassed or carried away by the passion of anger; unless sometimes he was offended for violating the commandments of God, remembering the words of the prophet king: Be angry and do not sin (Ps. 4:5). When reproaching someone, he forbade with quietness, instructed and taught with love, and was long-suffering with the hope of correcting those who sinned. The elder did not like praise, especially if he heard that he was considered a saint. He treated such people strictly, even showing an appearance of anger. So, one day the monk Serapion was walking through the monastery. But then some wanderer stopped him and began to tell him that he was seriously ill; but some old man who appeared to him in a dream healed him and ordered him to go to Optina Pustyn to pray. When asked what species he was, the wanderer began to explain. At this very time, Elder Macarius appeared from behind the Vladimir Church, heading from the monastery to the abbot’s building. Seeing him, the wanderer exclaimed with joy: “Here he is!” This is the one!” And with these words I wanted to approach him. But oh. Serapion, having stopped the wanderer, himself wanted to tell the old man his story, wanting, for his part, to honor him. While they were talking about the wanderer’s severe illness, the elder listened with attention. But as soon as it came to his miraculous healing, the elder changed his gaze and, not allowing the narrator to finish the story, burst out at him with a blow with a stick, did not listen any longer, turned away and left. Another similar story. One day Elder Macarius was walking through the guest courtyard for his usual visit to the arriving pilgrims. Some simple old woman who happened to be here, who considered him to be a holy man, put her wand on the ground, knelt down and began to pray to him. Seeing this, the old man - this kind, benevolent and condescending old man - menacingly grabbed a stick and hit the old woman on the back with it several times. She, forgetting her prayer and the holiness of the elder, barely dragged herself away from him. But after that the same old woman received admonition and consolation from the kind old man. The elder even called praise for himself slander. So, he wrote to his nieces in Sevsk: “I did not expect from you, M. Melania, such slander as you slander me. Where did you get such offensive and false slander against me? Consider me a life-giving source, draining I don’t know what it is, and the last remaining pillar of monasticism? Oh woe to me, a sinner! On the contrary, not only not a pillar, but the weakest blade of grass, withered from the sinful heat; and not a life-giving spring, but a sinful well, oozing stinking water. This is what I truly see in myself; and it would not be false to say and think: I know my iniquity, and I will take away my sin before me (Ps. 50:5). Whenever I look at the past and the present, there is only sinful sleepiness and negligence. No, human judgment is unjust, but God’s judgment is true. If you see anything in my letters, then it is not mine, but according to your faith, admonition is given from God” 29. Elder Macarius was merciful. He showed great mercy to the poor. Many poor and weak nuns were almost supported at his expense. He helped them with money, linen, and other necessary things. Talking about Elder Macarius, his cell attendant, the aforementioned Fr. Herodion, among other things, said: “Oh. Macarius behaved differently from Fr. Leonidas (his elder predecessor). The latter acted openly, in front of everyone, and did not try to hide his good charitable actions, but Fr. Macarius was hiding himself. He never gave money or generally provided help openly in front of everyone, but he always did it in solitude, for example, walking through the forest or in some other way, eye to eye with the poor man.” Thus, the former skete sexton, monk (later - hieroschemamonk) Savvaty conveyed the following. “I was busy,” he said, “with one thing outside the monastery gates. At that time, some poor girl was standing near the monastery with strawberries she had picked for sale. Suddenly Father Fr. comes out of the monastery. Macarius. Seeing a poor berry, he begins to bargain with it: “What are you asking for? What are you asking for? She says: “A ten-kopeck piece, please, father.” But the priest, noticing that I am here not far from him in order to hide his good deeds from me, replies: “Dear, dear! A nickel, take a nickel! I won’t give you any more, I won’t give you any more!” And he puts a silver ruble in her hand.” The elder’s gentleness and simplicity were truly childlike. Possessing such God-loving qualities and, as a result, always being in a peaceful spiritual disposition, Elder Macarius wanted to see and maintain peace between his spiritual children and tried in every possible way to eradicate unpeacefulness if he noticed in anyone. So, for example, he wrote to his Sevsk nuns: “It’s nice that things are peaceful between you now. A completely different life - peaceful versus confused. This is why the Lord's coming was to give us peace. But we destroy it with our passions, acting against nature. And we know that we must strive against them, but on occasion, everything is aside; and the mind is darkened, and the strength is weakened, I outrage the enemy; and God’s help does not work for our pride and exaltation. Let us flow, brothers and sisters; Let us not waste the time given to us in acquiring eternal bliss; How long will we be carried away by passions? I'm not even talking about bodily needs and weaknesses in service. This is bodily weakness, although it should humble us; but about spiritual passions - pride, vanity, from which rage, anger, envy, confusion, disorder and destruction of all order and good order are born. This is what this devil's disease is like! How much do we have against this medicine? But, alas! We leave Tune and do not apply it in time to our wounds” 30. To one nun who visited Elder Macarius, it is not known which one and on what occasion, he said: “May the Lord bless you with the peace with which He blessed His holy apostles!” “After that,” said the said nun, “I felt such an unperturbed peace and such spiritual sweetness in my heart that for a whole week I did not know where I was - on earth or in heaven. This unearthly peace continued after that for another month, but only to a lesser extent” 31. With these main virtues described here, Elder Macarius was also a performer of all other gospel virtues. And the prayer that always accompanied them strengthened and improved them. The elder had it incessantly. Exclamations: “Good God! Mother of God! My Jesus!” etc., accompanied by sighs, often flowed from his lips in his cell rule, in conversation with visitors, at his desk, on the way, during rest, even, as his cell attendants testified at one time, and during sleep itself, according to the word of Scripture: I sleep, but my heart watches (Song. 5:2). Sometimes suffering from insomnia, the elder remained completely awake at night or woke up frequently. Moreover, it was noticed that as soon as he woke up, he immediately resorted to thanksgiving and glorification of the name of God, until he forgot himself again. And in general, his mind, as a doer of mental-heart prayer, was always united with God; from what activity his face bloomed with spiritual joy and shone with love for God and his neighbors. At times the elder came into a state of spiritual delight, especially when thinking or talking about the ineffable destinies of God's Providence, about its great and everlasting power and Divinity. Then, if he was alone in his cell, he would sing one of his favorite church songs, such as: “Cover Your most high waters, set the sea as a limit of sand and support everything, The sun sings of You, the moon glorifies You, All creation brings a song to You, as the Creator and Creator forever” (Three Songs on Maundy Thursday, at Compline, song 8); or - a song in which the mystery of the Holy Trinity is expressed with particular power and at the same time brevity: “Come, ye people, let us worship the Trinitarian Divinity...” (The Slavic Lord cried out to the Lord on the Feast of Pentecost); or one of the dogmatists, in which the ineffable and bewildered mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God and the pure Mother of Emmanuel, who served this sacrament, are glorified, such as, for example: “Who will not please You, O Most Holy Virgin...”, “King of Heaven...”, etc. And sometimes in the summer, leaving his cell with a crutch in his hands, despite the people surrounding him, he walked along the monastery paths lined with flowers and, moving from flower to flower, immersed in the contemplation of the wisdom of the Creator, learned from the creations, quietly humming something to himself. Likewise, at the time when a cloud of sadness came over his soul or a feeling of languor appeared in the spirit - for, as is known, even men who are perfect in spiritual life cannot always be in an unchanged spiritual state - the elder loved to console himself during this spiritual battle by singing church songs. The elder also had the habit, when it was possible and convenient for him, during Holy Week, to sing in the middle of the church at Matins, as is customary in Optina Pustyn, the luminary: “I see Your palace, my Savior, adorned...” And how did he sing? It seemed that the word vizhdu had its true meaning in his mouth and that his singing expressed what his spiritual eyes actually saw. The old man's voice trembled from the excitement of spiritual feelings, tears rolled down his pale cheeks; the hearts of those listening were filled with tenderness. Involuntarily, the admirers of the elder who were present in the church of God at that time could have thought: “Do you, earthly angel and heavenly man, clothed in the robe of humility, cry to the Lord: I have no robe, but let me enter into it?” But the elder himself fully felt his sinfulness before Him, before Whom the very sky is unclean (Job 15:15). For, as it is said, even a righteous man falls seven times a day (Prov. 24:16). The elder expressed such humble feelings in a letter to his Sevsk nuns: “April 13th (1853). Today’s tender singing: “Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight” and “I see your palace, my Savior, adorned, and I have no clothes, let me go into it,” should soften our stony hearts, or say, my stony heart. I don’t know what to say about whom, but I clearly see my poverty, and although with one voice I dare to cry out to the Lord: “Illuminate the robe of my soul, O Light-Giver, and save me!” (luminous). I know that consoling feelings are bestowed on those who have suffered for the fulfillment of God’s commandments from people, from the flesh and from demons, and who have corrected their hearts by resisting passions and who have achieved love. But on the stained and torn charter of our heart, grace does not write its laws and does not bestow consolation. And when grace visits, even with a small spark of its action, we cannot preserve it in humility, but require fire that burns the passion of pride and vanity either by a preceding or subsequent temptation 32 - so that we humble ourselves and realize how weak our strength is. That’s how I understand myself, and that’s partly, darkened by passions. And if you see something similar in yourself according to this reasoning: then try to correct yourself - each supporting yourself and each other with advice and deed, and it will be fulfilled for you: Brother from brother we help, like a strong and high city (Proverbs 18:19)” 33. With the transition to the Optina monastery, Elder Macarius refused to serve as a priest, because, due to his tongue-tiedness and at the same time suffering from an exercise in the spirit, he could not clearly pronounce exclamations, much less pronounce a whole litany or proper commemoration at the great entrance of the Holy Liturgy of all members of the Imperial family 34 . Instead, he always took communion at the altar of the Holy Mysteries of Christ once a month with deep and touching emotion. Upon receiving the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord, he, as the monks of his time told him, literally shed tears. Let us also note that spiritual men, adorned with the lofty virtues described, with unceasing prayer of the mind and heart, are always characterized by the memory of death, followed by circumstances that are threatening for sinners and gratifying for the righteous. How vividly Elder Macarius remembered death can be seen from his letter to his uncle on the occasion of the death of his uncle’s mother, and his, the elder’s, grandmother. Here it is: “Dear sir and most respected uncle, Pavel Joakimovich! On January 20 (year unknown) a letter reached my hand announcing the sad news - the death of the most venerable grandmother A.P. Glory to the merciful Lord, who made her worthy to move from this life to such an advanced age and in the white robe of sincere repentance and confession of her sins, bearing on herself the seal of holy unction and Christ within herself through the communion of His Holy and Life-giving Mysteries! Thank you for the details of her death; for they unanimously reassure me of her eternal welfare. Thank you for not hiding the feelings of your sad heart from me; for I love to grieve with those who grieve. All possible compassion is an indispensable duty, which I owe to your love, which found me in this remote, silent and unknown corner. Having lost a person, we give him the real price, dear P.I., perhaps we increase it. With my conception, the law of destruction was written within me; Death imposed its formidable mark on each newly formed member, saying: “They are mine! The chain of my days is a chain of greater or lesser suffering; Every new day of my life is a new step that brings me closer to decay. Illnesses come, and the trembling heart asks them: are you only the harbingers of my death, or have you already been given the power to separate the body from the soul through a bitter and terrible separation. Sometimes my mental eye, distracted by vanity, abandons the contemplation of my sad fate; but as soon as any sudden sorrowful adventure occurs, it quickly flows again to my favorite teaching, like a baby to its mother’s breasts, to the teaching about death; for true consolation is hidden in true sorrow, and a prudent remembrance of death dissolves mortal bonds! You, of whose ineffable goodness we are a creature! Tell us: why have You dissolved our life with sorrows? Is Your mercy not touched by our suffering? Why do you give me existence and then delight it with a painful death? “I do not delight,” says God, “in your illnesses, O man! But from the seed of your sorrows and your sorrows I wish to grow for you the fruits of eternal and greatest pleasure. It was not in your body alone that I imprinted the law of death and destruction—I imprinted it in every object of this visible world. I commanded the whole world to cry out to you, along with your body, that this life is not true and real life, that there is nothing permanent in this world to which your heart could become attached with non-blameable love. When you do not heed the menacing voice of the entire universe, then My fatherly compassion, constantly desiring unlimited benefits for you, forces Me to raise the rod of punishment; Then I torment you with temptations, exhaust you with illnesses, gnaw you with sorrows, so that you, leaving madness, become wise, leaving behind the shadows that you are chasing, fall at the feet of truth and together at the feet of salvation. My ineffable goodness and unimaginable love for mankind forced Me to take on flesh. By my humiliation I revealed to the human race the greatness of the Divine (John 14:9). Having endured the cross for the sake of human salvation, whomever I want to attract to Myself, I first strike him with sorrows and with the arrows of sorrows I kill his heart for temporary sweets. The rod of punishment is the banner of My love for man. Thus, even before, I wounded the heart of My servant David with suffering; and when a stream of temptations cut him off from the world, then some wondrous reflection, some extraordinary thoughts appeared in his mind and occupied it. “I thought,” he writes, “I remembered and learned from the first days of eternal summer: that is, I looked at the passing days of my life, and they seemed to me like an instant dream, a quickly disappeared phenomenon, a dead life; then I remembered eternity, began to compare it with the brevity of my past life, and, comparing the infinite with the shortest temporal, I deduced the result. What is this result? For a man walks like this, but he fusses in vain [Ps. 38:7], that is, no matter how much a man fusses, no matter how much he cares about various temporary acquisitions, yet all this is in vain; for he does not cease to be some brief appearance on earth, a guest, a wanderer. Such feelings and reflections removed him from the world of passions. He began to study the law of the Lord day and night and strive to know himself and God, like a thirsty tree for springs of cool waters. As a king, he had the opportunity of all temporary pleasures; but when he tasted the sweetness of inner blessings, then he forgot to take his own bread. I wrote to you, dear uncle, my feelings, if contrary to secular reason, then at least sincere, and sincerity can be comforting in times of sadness. Your deceased parent bequeathed to you before her death to be a good Christian. And I wish this for you with all my heart. Then death will lose its menacing appearance in your eyes and will become only some most pleasant transition from temporary sorrows to endless pleasure. She will bring you to the palace in which, as we guess with some certainty, your venerable parent now lives. The very sadness for the dead, illuminated by the light of true reason, melts away, and in its place good hope begins to vegetate, comforting and cheering the soul. Fanaticism constrains a person's way of thinking; true faith gives him freedom. This freedom is revealed by the firmness of a person in all possible happy and unhappy cases. The sword that cuts our chains is a purified mind that sees in any case its true, hidden, mysterious cause. Anyone who strives towards it by looking at their insignificance with a reverent request for Divine protection and help achieves this goal. ...For everything, glory to the most merciful God, who pours out untold blessings on us in any case, for the source of goodness cannot emit from Himself any other waves except the good ones, without understanding which, man often murmurs against the All-Good. THEM." 35 In his letters to his Sevsky nieces, Elder Macarius often waxes philosophical about the transience of present life and about future eternity and the Last Judgment of God. For example, he wrote on November 2, 1854: “Time flows insensitively; and we don’t see how it flies, measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days and beyond; and every second brings us closer to eternity. Knowing this, we are not very concerned about how to appear and give an account to the impartial Judge. Sensuality darkens our mind. All our care and thought is to bring peace to the body; but we care little about the soul - we do not eradicate passions, and we do not even resist them; and because of this we are deprived of peace and peace of mind...” Or on November 19 of the same year: “...We are restless, hesitant, confused; and everything flows like a river, and carries away everything that has passed, as if it never happened; history and private narratives leave very little as a memory of the past. This day ends 66 years in my life, and tomorrow 67 will begin. But what does this have to do with eternity? Less than a drop in the sea. But what eternity will be like, we must now think about this and ask our merciful Creator and Redeemer, may he be merciful to us on the day of judgment and make us worthy to stand on the right hand. But somehow we think badly about this, as if there will be no eternity. This is how we spend our lives – we break the commandments and have no true repentance. Lord, have mercy!” Or January 1, 1857: “What are we looking for, what do we want? Of course, salvation, the Kingdom of God. How is it purchased? You are quite aware. How long is our age? Who told us that we will live to see tomorrow? In these poor times, many are expecting great upheavals and, perhaps, those preceding a worldwide fiery flood: how much more do we need to draw closer to each other through love and humility, so that the word of God does not come true on us: the love of many will dry up (Matthew 24:12). Think about this better and do not each look for your own, but for your neighbor to create.” Or in January 1859: “I lived 71 years and 2 months. It is necessary to think with the prophet: I thought about the first days, and remembered and learned about the eternal years (Ps. 76:66). What's the past? Like yesterday; and eternity is endless. How do I live? Woe to me, a sinner! Have mercy, Lord, and grant that we may end the rest of our life in peace and repentance; will receive a Christian death, not shameful, peaceful and a good answer at the Last Judgment of Christ” 36. And in many other places in these letters, the elder wrote about the same thing and the same thing. All the virtues of Elder Macarius listed here, not excluding the memory of death, are, of course, gifts of God, according to the word of the Lord: without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5); they are given by God to the fulfillers of His holy commandments set forth in the Holy Gospel; and such was Elder Macarius. But the All-Good Lord also rewarded His faithful servant with other high spiritual gifts, one of which is the gift of spiritual reasoning. To explain how essential this reasoning is for those seeking salvation, the elder himself usually pointed to the legend about the gift of reasoning by one of the ancient monastery fathers, Abba Moses, borrowed by the latter from the words of St. Anthony the Great. This legend is found in the Slavic Philokalia, in the word of St. Cassian to Abbot Leontin about St. monastery fathers and about reasoning. The late elder Macarius especially loved this word and, when he was already in his deathbed illness, he strengthened himself spiritually with it, asking one of his disciples to read it. This was his last reading from the paternal writings, in which, according to the word of the Venerable Nile of Sora, he placed his life and breath. In order for the reader to more clearly judge the meaning of this gift of reasoning, the following passage is copied from the Slavic Philokalia, but only in the Russian translation. “Discernment,” said Abba Moses, “is not some small virtue, but one of the significant gifts of the Holy Spirit, about which the Apostle speaks: To one the word of wisdom is given by the Spirit, and to another the word of understanding, about the same Spirit: to another faith, by the same Spirit: to another the gift of healing... to another spiritual discernment... (1 Cor. 12:8,9,10). Then, having completed the calculation of spiritual gifts, (the apostle) added: all this is acted by one and the same Spirit. So, reasoning is not earthly or small, but the greatest gift of God’s grace, which if a monk does not follow with all his might with diligence and does not become accustomed to reasoning with the firm thought of the spirits entering into him, then of necessity he, like one lost in the night, will have to fall not only into the pits of the most cruel evil, but also to stumble on straight paths and level places.” 37 And further... And St. John Climacus defines reasoning as follows: “Reasoning is an undefiled conscience and a pure feeling. It is found only in those who are pure in heart, body and lips” 38. The Lord also communicated this lofty gift to the blessed elder Macarius for the common good. With the help of this gift, he gave each of the monks and laity who came to him for the revelation of their consciences appropriate healing for illness, offering everyone who asked him spiritual advice and instructions that were right and true, according to the teachings of our holy and God-bearing fathers. Finally, it was clear to everyone that the Lord had communicated to Elder Macarius the gifts of healing, and insights into the future and, in general, the hidden. Which gifts, according to the remark of the Vyshensky Recluse Bishop Theophan, are apostolic gifts, higher than which there is nothing on earth. Readers will see examples of these high talents further in their place. Thus, the described elder, according to the remark of the above-mentioned Fr. Abbot Mark, in his spiritual maturity, fully corresponded to the high service he inherited from his predecessor, Elder Leonid, was an abvoy in the full and true sense of the word. His humble word, although not always eloquent, was nevertheless a strong, powerful and effective word; so that it involuntarily won the hearts of all who sincerely desired and sought spiritual success and salvation. All prudent people, young and old, involuntarily bowed before him. Even during the life of Elder Leonid, as was said above, everyone who related to him became accustomed to looking at Fr. Macarius as his spiritual friend and co-secretary, although out of humility this latter considered himself one of his disciples; accustomed to receiving letters written by Fr. Macarius and sealed with the common signature of both elders as a sign of their complete unanimity and like-mindedness. All those who belonged to Elder Leonid were at the same time spiritual children and Fr. Macarius as the confessor of the monastery. Finally, during his dying illness, which lasted more than five months, Elder Leonid directly pointed out Fr. Macarius as his successor in old age. And therefore, everyone who related to Elder Leonid after his death, without any hesitation, began to turn to Fr. for spiritual advice. Macarius and, seeing in him the same spiritual gifts, and most importantly - the same fatherly love, compassionate participation in their spiritual needs, the ability to rejoice with those who rejoice and cry with those who cry, a quick solution to perplexities and art in healing mental illnesses - they joyfully reported this to their other acquaintances. And therefore, the fame of Elder Macarius quickly spread throughout all parts of Orthodox Russia and attracted to him many who wanted to use his wise advice orally and in writing. Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 4. Letter 1. Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 5. Letter 53. Words of St. Isaac the Syrian. Word 46. St. Isaac the Syrian word 89. Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 3. Letter 65. Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose reported about this. Father Abbot Mark, having reached the rank of hieromonk in Optina Pustyn, was for some time abbot of the Meshovsky St. George Monastery; and then he returned again to Optina Pustyn and lived here in retirement for a considerable time. He died on March 18, 1909 at an advanced age. Hieromonk Melchizedek of the clergy, born in 1809. After completing the course at the Kaluga Seminary, he became a monk and lived first in the Meshchovsky St. George Monastery; was for some time a teacher at a religious school; and in 1842, due to some malfunctions, by decree of the Spiritual Consistory he was transferred under supervision to Optina Pustyn. He always showed special zeal for asceticism, but this zeal, according to the unknown fate of God, was repeatedly dissolved by permissive, humbling weakness, which subjected him to many groans and sighs, which the All-Good Lord finally looked upon and granted him to spend the rest of his days in peace and depart from this life with good hope on October 22, 1870, at the age of 61. Andrei Ivanovich Glushkov, a Maloyaroslavets landowner, later the skete hierodeacon Anthony, due to a serious illness in the second half of the sixties of the last 19th century, retired to his relatives in the city of Maloyaroslavets and died there; buried in the Maloyaroslavets Nikolaevsky Monastery. Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 3. Letter 83. Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 3. Letter 126. The old-timer monk of the monastery, Fr. Petr Ivanov. In other letters, Elder Macarius wrote words often repeated by his successor, Elder Ambrose: “Every good deed is either preceded or followed by temptation.” Letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Part 3. Letter 71. In the first half of the 19th century, both at the Great and Sublime Litany and at the Great Entrance of the Holy Liturgy, all members of the Imperial House were commemorated by name. Letters from Elder Macarius to lay persons. Letter 47. All these excerpts are from the 3rd volume of letters from Elder Macarius to the nuns. Letters 103, 106. 135 and 155. Slavic Philokalia. Part IV. Ladder. Word 26. Chapters 4 and 2.